ShareCom WRP-500
The '''ShareCom WRP-500 '''is a weather radio that was produced by ShareCom Incorporated in the early-to-mid 2000's. The weather radio is extremely different from most others on the market, even today, in that the primary interface does not use a large scroll or color-coded features, but instead uses a map that automatically sets to a location based on whatever alerts are received. History The WRP-500 was introduced as ShareCom's first major venture into the NOAA Weather Radio market. A small business technology company, ShareCom realized the major potential of NOAA Weather Radio and CB radio, causing the company to completely shift gears. The WRP-500 was introduced to the public for retail on December 11, 2001, with a suggested price point of $149.99https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-utils/2001-12/msg00204.html. The weather radio existed at a time when the likes of RadioShack and Midland had a longer presence in the business. In addition, the WRP-500 was primarily sold online and at few physical retailers. Following the dot-com bubble of the early 2000's, many people still shopped at brick-and-mortar stores, so the radio didn't receive much marketing outside of ShareCom's weatherradio.com, which featured weather radio options including the WRP-500http://www.jik.com/noaaradios.pdf. By 2005, ShareCom was out-competed by other major radio retailers in all of their ventures, and the company folded. With this, the WRP-500 was not produced anymore, though retailers carried the radio until at least 2009. Due to the length of time since the radio was produced and how few were produced, the radios are extremely hard to come across. Design and features The weather radio features a white-gray shell with a dark gray center that houses the speakers and the screen (called a PDA). On the front of the radio, the ShareCom logo and an early NOAA S.A.M.E. logo are placed on the bottom left of the radio, with a 4-direction selector button and a power button to the right. Under the two logos is a panel, but what this panel contains is not exactly known. Directly above is the dark-gray shell that houses the speaker and PDA. The speakers sit in a circular shape on the right hand side of the radio. To the left of the speaker are four buttons: CH+, CH-, SP, and ZOOM from top to bottom. The biggest feature is the screen, which features a map that can zoom between the local area and the state in which alerts are issued for on a county-by-county basis. The primary county is featured in the upper left corner, signal strength is given in the upper right corner, the time is located in the bottom right corner, and the mode (radio mode being alert mode) is located in the bottom right. Under the screen, the words "S.A.M.E. WEATHER ALERT RADIO WITH PDA" are written underneath. The antenna is telescoping from the right hand side of the radio. A power feature can be plugged into the back of the radio, though it is unknown if other ports exist. Two knobs also appear on each side of the radio, one in the upper left and one in the lower right, and it can be assumed one is for volume and the other is for the contrast of the LCD PDA screen. The radio features no AUX out or accessory ports. It also features no watch, warning, or advisory lights. In addition, following the 1st EOM beep of any alert, the radio will but off, similar to the RadioShack 12-262 and 12-521 models. Video Only one known video of this weather radio exists: YouTube user NCX9003 purchased one off of eBay in 2012 and displayed it alerting for a Required Weekly Test for northwestern Ohiohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atVvUK9NJTs. References